CS for focus on agriculture extension, quality inputs to increase productivity

Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo chairing a meeting on Thursday.
Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo chairing a meeting on Thursday.

Dulloo for full operationalization of all major health facilities

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 7: Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo today had a detailed review of the schemes under implementation to revamp all the sectors of Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries in the UT.
Besides the Principal Secretary, APD the meeting was attended by Mission Director, Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP); Secretary in Agriculture; HoDs of allied departments and other concerned officers.
He maintained that the main focus areas for the department in agriculture sector should be on provisioning of quality agricultural inputs like seeds, rootstock, fertilizers, equipments bolstered with agri extension for bringing substantial improvement in the productivity of our arable lands.
The Chief Secretary further made out that in order to enhance the capacity of our farmers, it is imperative to give them hands-on training about the use of new techniques and technology. He advised the department to designate public/private farms of Agriculture, Poultry, Dairy, Sheep or Honey in each block and nominate a trainer for each of them to bring knowledge of labs into practice in the field. He asked for targeting at least 2 lakh farmers for imparting such a training in next 5 years period.
Dulloo further shared that an extensive baseline survey of about 20000-25000 farmers from different areas should be carried out to know about their concerns, expectations, priorities, income, awareness in addition to taking in consideration the fertility, profile, cropping pattern, weather and use of inputs and machinery by the farmers.
As far as bringing further ease to the farmers of J&K is concerned, the Chief Secretary asked for having simplified procedures for availing different Government sponsored benefits by them. He told them to provide them assistance in preparation of quality DPRs and approvals from the credit lending institutions to seek timely financial help for establishment of different units. He further directed for providing Smart Cards to the farmers availing credit facilities from financial institutions as per the RBI guidelines.
In his presentation the Principal Secretary, APD, Shailendra Kumar informed about the progress made in each scheme under implementation. He gave overview of expenditure made under Capex, CSS and HADP till date. He even apprised about the future plans of the Department to make agriculture sector a thriving enterprise here in the UT.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary while reviewing the health care scenario of the UT impressed upon the concerned authorities to take meaningful steps for full operationalization of all the major health facilities across the UT.
The meeting was attended by Secretary, Health besides Director SKIMS; MD, SHA; Principals of all the Medical Colleges; MD, NHM; Director Health Services Kashmir/Jammu; MD, JKMSCL; Director, Family Welfare; Drug Controller and other concerned officers.
He also enquired from the Principal of each Medical College about the staff strength and those in place among the faculty positions. He emphasised upon filling of all the vacancies at an earliest so that the patient care do not take hit there. He even asked for all the machinery and equipments necessary for effective medical care to be provisioned by these health institutions and their status in there.
He advised the department to take measures for procurement of such machinery, instruments and medicines for each of the health centre so that patients do not have to suffer. He called for tendering of all the essential drugs in one go as per requirements to evade any possibility of their shortage during the year.
Chief Secretary directed all the HoDs including the Chief Medical Officers to be in the field most of the times and monitor the delivery of services in their areas. He asked them to check on daily basis the patient load in each of the health facility and the availability of doctors there. He directed for ensuring that each medical facility in remote areas have sufficient staff available as per the sanctioned strength so that people there are not put to trouble anymore.
During this meeting the Secretary Health & Medical Education, Bhupinder Kumar informed the Chief Secretary that under Universal Health Insurance scheme 10.18 lakh treatments were done valuing Rs 1735 Cr since its inception.
Regarding the availability of health facilities across the UT it was said that more than 4000 health facilities including mega projects like 2 AIIMS, 2 State Cancer Institutes, 2 Bone & Joint Hospitals, 7 new Medical Colleges enhancing total MBBS Seats to 1300 for a UT with population of around 1.40 crore is phenomenal and first of its kind in the entire history of J&K.